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April 14, 2007

G10: Red Sox 8, Angels 0

Schilling was masterful and economical. He threw only seven pitches in each of the first two innings, 38 through four and 64 through six.

Schilling's shot at a complete game was derailed in the seventh. He allowed only a two-out walk, but needed 28 pitches. After the eighth, he was at 103 (8-4-0-1-4). Brendan Donnelly pitched the ninth. (box)

Eric Hinske got the offense going with a triple in the second inning. He and JD Drew scored on a fielding error by Gary Matthews in center. A wild pitch scored the 3rd run in the following inning.

With two outs in the sixth, Julio Lugo walked and stole second. Hinske walked (and finished the day with a triple, single, two walks and three runs scored). Then David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez stroked RBI singles. Papi belted a three-run tater to dead center in the 8th.

The Tigers topped the Blue Jays 10-7, so we're back in first place. The Yankees are floundering in 4th.

36 comments:

I think that's a very nice way to refer to James. It's how most people would recognize him, and it's not derogatory.

If Singer had mentioned that what happened last night is what ignorant people deride as "bullpen by committee", I would have been really thrilled.

But you know what? Since most people think that expression connotes something bad, unwieldy, stupid, ineffective - and since last night anyone who watched the game saw something creative and effective - it's just as well that we lose the C-by-C tag.

If Tito is praised for the way he managed in the sports media (which I hope he has been?), he'll have more courage and confidence to continue it - other open-minded managers might think a bit more outside the script - and there could be some positive momentum.

And if a bunch of dittoheads never connect the creative managing they're seeing with the stupid C-by-C label, who cares. It's a stupid expression anyway.

OK, they're not flat-out bad-mouthing Manny. But Dick Stockton can NEVER say anything good about Manny without saying something negative, too.

He can never just praise Manny. When McCarver praises Manny's offensive numbers, Stockton has to emphasize that Manny is great ON the field, obviously implying that he's trouble off the field. He has to mention that Manny "has been a liability in LF, although he's much much improved this year". Like the improvement just started this year! (And like there have been enough games this year to judge anything.)

Whatever good comes up about Manny, he MUST bring up something negative, or at the very least remind us that there's more to baseball than... baseball.

"What we did with Papelbon in the 8th was what CYC is all about -- using your best resouces when you need them most. There are undoubtedly many reason why that didn't work out here before I was hired -- and I know that CYC has gotten a bad name in this city -- but what I did last night was exactly what the front office here believes CYC is all about."

Tim McC said he listened (?) to the NESN broadcast last night. He mentioned Don & Jerry by name, then said Jerry made an interesting point that he had never thought of before.

Jerry said (says McCarver) that most visiting players play the Fenway LF too deep, butRed Sox players play it more shallow, which is better. He mentions Yaz and Manny playing shallow. Then he and Stockton discuss it.

A, they never really explained why you need to play LF shallow. They kept saying if the ball gets past you it will hit the wall, but they never explain what that means. They never use the word "carom" or even say "play it off the wall".

But more importantly, B, McCarver never thought of this before??? We only say this once a game! I knew this as a 16-year-old Yankees fan, and I didn't know anything but what I saw with my own eyes (never read about or discussed baseball with anyone).

Granted, McCarver is not a Sox announcer, but is it possible he never noticed this before, in all his years as a player and announcer?

He did explain it very well on camera in today's game. Something like, he's there to get us critical outs, and sometimes we're not going to get to the save situation in the 9th unless we bring him in in the 8th.

Stockton has to emphasize that Manny is great ON the field, obviously implying that he's trouble off the field.

Every single teammate he has ever played with has only good things to say about him. If you read all the papers, you see glimpses into his personality in the clubhouse here and there (there are writers he chats with every so often) and it sounds great.

But no matter. Despite a mountain of evidence, the media will continue to insist on the opposite.

(McCarver should be a natural at this. How many times has he been hammering home a point about some play, then all of the replays will show clearly the opposite happened, but he'll continue on with his hectoring. If I had a loonie for every time ...)

Nice job by Schill, the boys are heating up for TO. Manny likes the Dome, he should be rarin'. As for Coco ...

We need to encourage Tito to keep up the Paps 'snuffer' role, no matter which late inning the bad guys start to rally. We should send him some inspirational 'stay the course' speeches. Anybody know where to find them?

I'm in Boise, ID and they were playing the stupid Mariners / Rangers game on Fox and not the Red Sox. RAH! So I listened on Gameday Audio and enjoyed hearing Schilling shut down the Angels. Well done today.

Snuffer isn't your guy for the gimme 3-run lead, 7-8-9-guys-in-the-batting-order save. Snuffer stomps on the roaches while they're feeding. However, all bets are off when there's a narrow last-inning lead in Yankee-land (or maybe even in the Dome). Now if one of his mates were to step up ...

Yeah, that's the quandary, whether to put the first game in the bag and risk burning Snuffer for the rest of the series, especially on the road. That Yankee lineup is so friggen scary. Tito will really have to trust whatever Spidey sense he's got going at the moment--not the time to consult a script.

On the other hand, both Jeter and Cano have booted balls early, 3-0 A's, bottom 3rd.

I would like to see Wily Mo Pena play right. J.D. Drew play center and Coco serve as the fourth outfielder. Ellsbury will arrive as the starting center fielder in 2008; no need to rush him. The Sox have David Murphy, Brandon Moss and Alex Ochoa as outfield options at Pawtucket if Crisp is dealt during the season, though.